Conventional sunglasses have tinted glass or plastic lens portions which, when in a use position before the wearer's eyes, are typically supported both medially by the ridge of the wearer's nose and also on opposite sides by the wearer's ears through a pair of so-called temples that each extend from a different side region of the lens portions to engage an ear.
Such conventional sunglasses suffer from various difficulties. For one thing, when in a use position before the wearer's eyes, the sunglasses can move or shift, for example, when the wearer perspires, so that the sunglasses slide downward on the wearer's nose.
For another thing, when not positioned over the wearer's eyes, the sunglasses must be removed, the temples folded inwards on hinge members for storage relative to the lens portions, and then deposited in a pocket, case or the like which operations typically require the use of both the wearer's hands, causing inconvenience and interruption or disruption of the wearer relative to another task at hand or in progress. When stored, sunglasses are placed in a use orientation, a reverse procedure must be used that likewise typically requires use of both the wearer's hands, and that likewise causes inconvenience, interruption or disruption of tasks in progress.
To avoid such problems, various efforts have previously been made to support the lens portions of sunglasses by a cap worn by the user. For example, Gatchalian U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,812 discloses the medial region of the lens portion pivotably supported by the brim or visor of a cap wearable by the user. For another example, Chung U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,586 discloses a bracket that interconnects a cap visor with an edge portion of a pair of sunglasses so that the sunglasses are pivotable either about a horizontal axis from a vertical use location to a horizontal storage location, or about a vertical axis from a vertical use location to a side storage location. However, with these assemblies, the sunglasses can seem to be unstable both when in a use location, and in a storage location. Also, these sunglasses can interfere with the user's visibility or maneuverability, thereby rendering these assemblies unsatisfactory and sometimes unsafe.
A new and improved sunglasses structure is needed which is cap supportable and which permits the lens portions to be located either in a use position or in a storage position where the lens portions are positioned so as to extend lengthwise along one side of the user's head.